>Who gives a fuck what the US government ‘allows’?

Iraq and Afghanistan, for starters. If the US doesn't allow something and you do it anyway, you tend to come up with a nasty case of Dead.

Those two wars were different from one another, in respects that are/should be central to your argument, like the UN's role.

Well you might give a fuck when you try and do something and the US government 'disallows' it.

Arrogance or not the force that the US government can exert anywhere in the world at any time they want is real.

well, given the number of thermonuclear warheads that have been misplaced, it does seem reasonable that we should at least try to prevent those kind of missions.